Madrid ends the first round with 45 points, five below Barcelona, but two above what was achieved last season at this same time. The whites have improved their records, but unlike what happened twelve months ago, the Barça team has signed almost unbeatable numbers: “We have handled the absence of Benzema well, the additions have fitted in well, we have two more points, we scored goals . We are on a good line despite the fact that January was a difficult month after the World Cup,” Ancelotti explained.
The game left a controversial play that once again damages the reputation of the VAR. In the last minute of the extension of the first half, Modric threw a corner that finished off Rudiger to the net, goal annulled by Alberola Rojas prior notice from the VAR. A struggle between Benzema and Musah ended with the North American player on the ground, with his hands on his face. Directly from the field, the referee and the assistant understood that it was one more contact, but after analyzing the play on the monitor located at the foot of the field, the referee considered that Karim he got rid of the che player with a slap of the hand, which meant the return to 0-0 and cost the French a yellow card, incredulous at a slow-motion arbitration decision that destroys the essence of the game: «Benzema accidentally hits him , but the referee says that it was elbow and that is not so. In the area there are always struggles and it is rarely whistled. But the boy goes to the ground…”, Courtois commented.
The triple negative note for the whites was put Benzema, Militao and Kroos, all of them replaced by muscular ailments. In the case of French, the problem seems minor. The German thing is just annoyance and he himself asked him to change as a precaution, but as regards the Brazilian there is concern. Today he will be tested: «Militao will not play on Sunday, it seems something serious. The Benzema thing is light,” Ancelotti said.
The game also left a barbaric kick from Paulista to Vinicius who fully enters into one of the dirtiest actions in the modern history of LaLiga. For no reason, the Brazilian went to purposely harm his compatriot, which led to a direct red card, the recrimination of himself vinicius and of Rodrygo, and also of Militao when he came across the white defender on the way to the locker room entrance: «You have to protect Vinicius a bit. He is a very expressive boy, he dribbles and the defenders don’t like that. We need that Vini. In many games they have kicked him a lot. I am happy that the referee had the courage to expel Paulista”, analyzed Courtois. «Paulista and vinicius They have not had direct confrontations during the match. I think it was a moment of frustration due to the defeat and the bad moment of the team. It is true that he is a bit ugly but Paulista has always been a very correct player », reflected Ancelotti. «It has been an action resulting from the impotence and despair of losing, but it cannot be repeated again, leaving the team like this with one less. I’m going to talk to him so it doesn’t happen again. He comes in at the wrong time and has gone a bit out of his mind,” Voro said, graceful and sincere.
The appearances of players and coaches ended with an irony ‘made in Ancelotti’ regarding the calendar already LaLiga, who has placed Madrid’s next game on Sunday at aperitif time, in Mallorca, just 56 hours after the duel against Valencia: «Luckily, on Sunday we play at 2:00 p.m. Imagine if they had put it on Saturday night. We would be caught (he meant ‘fucked’)».